Aiwa
TV-S2011
Standard Televisions

Product Description

User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Eric
a Audio Enthusiast

Date Reviewed: August 19, 2000

Bottom Line:

When my old Goldstar television went kaput, my first instinct was to replace it with the Aiwa TV-S2011, but unfortunately for me, I found a "better" Samsung for cheaper that had more features. That "better" set turned out to have a bad case of picture tilt, a noisy picture, bad contrast, and a bright pink stripe going down the side of the picture. It went back to the store the next morning. I decided to go with my first instinct and order the Aiwa. I was impressed even before I opened up the box. Even though it was placed in a cheap, oversized shipping box with poor packing, the Aiwa's box was very heavily made, and the television inside was surrounded in a plethora of styrofoam cushioning. When I turned on the unit I noticed it had no picture tilt, and the geometry was very good. Unfortunately the picture settings were awful, as are the settings on all TV's from the factory. After some fine-tuning of the settings, I noticed that it had more contrast than most televisions, and the color was more vivid than most televisions. The sound was great, but unfortunately there are no bass or treble controls, so I couldn't beef up the bass of the TV. Still, it had more bass than the little tiny speakers under the screens of most TV's produce. The only negative thing about the set is that sometimes when I change channels with my cable box, the tuner gets "tripped" up, similar to the auto tracking of a VCR suddenly getting off track. It is fixed by turning the TV to a different channel and back. The only other flaw is its obvious lack of resolution, caused by its having a slot color filter instead of a comb filter (although it does have better picture than the Samsung, which had a comb filter). The effect is similar to changing the setting on a computer monitor from SVGA to VGA (the picture sometimes seems "dithered"), but I guess its "honesty" about its lack of high resolution is better than the other 19-20" televisions who try to hide their low resolution with a softening of the picture. Another difference between the Aiwa and other televisions is that it is not made in Mexico. It is made in Thailand, near China. It seems what Aiwa saved in labor costs went into making a higher quality television than the ones that are slapped together in Mexico, using high-quality plastic instead of the normal milk-jug grade plastic. The Aiwa is slightly more expensive than most 20" televisions and it is very hard to find in stores (I had to order it from a place in New York), but it looks even more expensive and it is made with obvious pride. Take note that it is not made for DVD-grade sources, but it will be perfectly happy with VHS. Its futuristic styling will look just fine next to a minisystem, but it might look a "tad" flashy in a subdued setting. As for me, I now have a television that perfectly matches all of my electronics gadgets.

This is an excellent television for the price (I paid $225). The picture is the best I've seen for a 20" tv and very clear. The sound is also excellent with side speakers (although I see few advantages to the side speaker design). I really liked the video game function which would automatically set tv to settings to play games instead of having to press several buttons like most televisions. Overall, a great tv. Recommended.